CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

PART ONE - THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE

God has said everything in his Word

65 "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the
prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son."[26] Christ,
the Son of God made man, is the Father's one, perfect and unsurpassable
Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than
this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on
Hebrews 1:1-2:

In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke
everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say. .
. because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken
all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning
God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of
foolish behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes
entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other
novelty.[27]

66 "The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive
Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be
expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ."[28]
Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made
completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its
full significance over the course of the centuries.

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations,
some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do
not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to
improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more
fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium
of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in
these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his
saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or
correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfilment, as is the case
in certain nonChristian religions and also in certain recent sects which
base themselves on such "revelations".

IN BRIEF

68 By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has
thus provided the definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that
man asks himself about the meaning and purpose of his life.

69 God has revealed himself to man by gradually communicating his own
mystery in deeds and in words.

70 Beyond the witness to himself that God gives in created things, he
manifested himself to our first parents, spoke to them and, after the
fall, promised them salvation (cf. Gen 3:15) and offered them his
covenant.

71 God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings
(cf. Gen 9:16). It will remain in force as long as the world lasts.

72 God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By
the covenant God formed his people and revealed his law to them through
Moses. Through the prophets, he prepared them to accept the salvation
destined for all humanity.

73 God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has
established his covenant for ever. The Son is his Father's definitive
Word; so there will be no further Revelation after him.

74 God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth":[29] that is, of Christ Jesus.[30] Christ must be proclaimed to all
nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of
the earth:

God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the
salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety, throughout the
ages, and be transmitted to all generations.[31]

I. THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION

75 "Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is
summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been
promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own
person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they
were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to
be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline."[32]

In the apostolic preaching. . .

76 In keeping with the Lord's command, the Gospel was handed on in two
ways:
- orally "by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their
preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established,
what they themselves had received - whether from the lips of Christ, from
his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the
prompting of the Holy Spirit";[33]
- in writing "by those apostles and other men associated with the
apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the
message of salvation to writing".[34]

. . . continued in apostolic succession

77 "In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in
the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave
them their own position of teaching authority."[35] Indeed, "the apostolic
preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was
to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of
time."[36]

78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called
Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely
connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life
and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she
herself is, all that she believes."[37] "The sayings of the holy
Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition,
showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the
Church, in her belief and her prayer."[38]

79 The Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy
Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: "God, who spoke in the
past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. And the
Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the
Church - and through her in the world - leads believers to the full truth,
and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness."[39]

One common source. . .

80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely
together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing
out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to
form one thing, and move towards the same goal."[40] Each of them makes
present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to
remain with his own "always, to the close of the age".[41]

. . . two distinct modes of transmission

81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing
under the breath of the Holy Spirit."[42]

"And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which
has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy
Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that,
enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound
and spread it abroad by their preaching."[43]

82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of
Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed
truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must
be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and
reverence."[44]

Apostolic Tradition and ecclesial traditions

83 The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on
what they received from Jesus' teaching and example and what they learned
from the Holy Spirit. The first generation of Christians did not yet have
a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the
process of living Tradition.

Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological,
disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local
churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to
different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In
the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even
abandoned under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium.

The heritage of faith entrusted to the whole of the Church
84 The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the
depositum fidei),[45] contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the
whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire
holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the
teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and
the prayers. So, in maintaining, practising and professing the faith that
has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the
bishops and the faithful."[46]

The Magisterium of the Church

85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God,
whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been
entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its
authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus
Christ."[47] This means that the task of interpretation has been
entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the
Bishop of Rome.

86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its
servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine
command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this
devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All
that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this
single deposit of faith."[48]

87 Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears
me",[49] the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives
that their pastors give them in different forms.

The dogmas of the faith

88 The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ
to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes
truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes in a definitive way truths having a necessary connection with them.

89 There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the
dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and
make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect
and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.[50]

90 The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be
found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ.[51]
"In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy 234 of truths,
since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian
faith."[52]

The supernatural sense of faith

91 All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth.
They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them[53]
and guides them into all truth.[54]

92 "The whole body of the faithful. . . cannot err in matters of
belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation
of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, from the
bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in
matters of faith and morals."[55]

93 "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit
of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority
(Magisterium),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all delivered to the
saints. . . The People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it
more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily
life."[56]

Growth in understanding the faith

94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both
the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in
the life of the Church:
- "through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these
things in their hearts";[57] it is in particular "theological research
[which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth".[58]
- "from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers]
experience",[59] the sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads
them."[60]
- "from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right
of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth".[61]

95 "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God,
sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are
so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the
others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one
Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."[62]

IN BRIEF

96 What Christ entrusted to the apostles, they in turn handed on by
their preaching and writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to
all generations, until Christ returns in glory.

97 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit
of the Word of God" (DV 10) in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church
contemplates God, the source of all her riches.

98 "The Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and
transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she
believes" (DV 8 # 1).

99 Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith, the People of God as a whole
never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully
from the gift of divine Revelation.

100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been
entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope
and to the bishops in communion with him. Article 3